Sense file
How the sense moved
The archive follows the dated record first, then reads the social or rhetorical pressure that hardened, softened, narrowed, or reversed the word.
Older meaning
Sauce-like, then sharply impertinent or seriously condemnatory.
Modern meaning
Playfully bold, cheeky, or flirtatious.
Research lens
Culinary piquancy becomes social insolence and then style, wit, and flirtation.
Meaning trail
Root
resembling sauce
The first image is literal flavor.
Bridge
impertinent or sharply bold
Piquancy becomes attitude.
Now
cheeky or flirtatious
Modern tone often softens the insult into style.